Growing up in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Sylvia Acevedo realized her dreams and desires often diff ered from her peers. She wanted to fl y rockets, fi x cars, and play drums. Yet, as a young Mexican-American woman in the 1960s, Acevedo felt pressured by cultural expectations to conform to a more traditional role. In the Girl Scouts, Acevedo found a community that gave her the confi dence and skills to pursue her passions – all the way to becoming a rocket scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her uplifting autobiography, Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist (Clarion, $17.99), will inspire a new generation’s bold dreams. Ages 9-12. Amy Dickinson and Cecilia Winter